Hello, I live just outside Fort Way e. Looking for information on how to do a Bike Scout, ARC, or snow troops for my first build. New to all this and not sure where to start.

Welcome to the boards! We have bikers (myself included) and snowies (myself formerly) galore, so plenty of help available there. You might also join the Detachment boards (Bikerscout.net and blizzardforce.com, respectively). Also be sure to inspect the Costume Reference Libraries (CRLs) on the 501st page so you make sure you get the right parts. Above all else, DO NOT BUY ANYTHING until you have it checked by us here or someone on the Detachment boards. There's a lot of garbage out there, and it's not always easy to tell without experience.

There's an almost-complete ARC for sale on the 501st boards (only open to members, but we can help connect you if you're interested. It currently fits someone ~5'-8" to 6'-0" tall, 140-170 pounds, and could be modified somewhat for bigger/smaller. The seller is asking $1600 for the armor, $200 for the blaster, and $125 for the boots (size 43 EU).

So the big question is your time and budget targets. Each of these costumes will run in the $1000-2000 range and generally take about six months to acquire everything and build. The biker and snowie are easy builds, but wait times for the makers are long. The biker has to be sourced from about seven different makers, and the snowie from about three. The ARC could probably be done in a month, if it fits you already.

well budget over a long time frame shouldn't be an issue. I think I want to go snow trooper first though.

The hardest part of the snowie is the boots, which haven't been produced in over a decade. Looks like there are some available here: http://www.herooutdoors.com/canadian-mi ... luks-used/

Note these things run about 3 sizes up due to all the insulation they were meant to contain. So if you wear a size 10, buy a 7 if you can.

There's also a complete snowie available on the Blizzardforce board (which you can register for): http://www.blizzardforce.com/forum/view ... =43&t=4600

I have registered for the snow trooper and biker scout forums, just waiting on approval from administrators.

For those boots, so order 3 sizes smaller than my regular boot size? The insulation isn't there correct?

Yes, order 3 sizes smaller than your normal boot size; if you wear an 11, buy an 8; if you wear a 10, buy a 7.

The insulation is multiple layers and each one is removable (most of us go with absolutely none!). Since the boots are used, you also can't rely on getting the same set of layers each time you buy a pair.

I don't remember what size I bought, but it turned out I could fit a pair of slip-on boat shoes inside my boots. Made them wearable and comfortable, but I looked like I had Phelps-level flippers.

Ok, cool. So I'll be ordering a size 6 and hoping they fit properly (I have a wide foot).